The review received evidence that the private rented sector was blighted by "a small minority of criminal landlords who deliberately prey on the vulnerable". Councils have said that they are aware of almost 1,500 serial bad landlords. Around 3.6m households in England, or 16.5% of the total, live in private rented housing. They include 1.1m families with children.
Yet, according to government figures, 35% of privately-rented homes do not meet decent standards for repair, facilities, insulation, or heating. That compares with 22% of owner-occupied homes not meeting decent standards and 17% of social housing.
Labour said that nearly half a million families and more than 100,000 pensioners are among those living in "non-decent" private rented homes.
"The private rented sector has an important role to play in meeting housing need," said Jack Dromey, the shadow housing minister.
"But too many tenants are in poor and sometimes dangerous homes. That's why Labour has set out proposals to drive standards up and bad landlords out."
Labour believes that, as well as enabling criminals to be driven out of the industry, creating a national register of landlords would also help to ensure that landlords paid tax. HM Revenue & Customs believes that private landlords are evading tax worth more than £500m.
The party also said it wants to stamp out the use of "retaliatory eviction" against tenants who complain about the conditions of their property.
